Delaware senate candidate owes $50K to feds, $10K to state

Delaware Senate candidate Darius J. Brown is vying for a seat in which he would participate in setting state tax rates but he owes about $60,000 to the state and federal government, according to liens filed this year. 

The aspiring District 2 representative was hit with a federal tax lien in April for $50,803 in unpaid income taxes and penalties from 2012 through 2016. On May 14, the Delaware Division of Revenue filed a complaint in Superior Court for $9,854 in unpaid taxes and penalties from 2014 through 2016.  

"I have a tax liability," Brown said on Friday. "I have a payment arrangement to make a monthly payment. That’s what I do to satisfy my liability, which is no different than other people with the challenges they have." 

Brown, 36, declined to provide an explanation for how his taxes appear to have gone unpaid for years. 

"That’s a personal matter," he said. "I'm not forfeiting my responsibility. I pay it. I will pay it until the debt is satisfied."

Brown, a Wilmington City Councilman from 2013 to 2016, said he didn't know how much he's already paid off.

Former Wilmington Police Chief Bobby Cummings and Wilmington City Councilman Samuel Guy are running against Brown in the primary race to replace Sen. Margaret Rose Henry, who is retiring. Her district includes the northeast section of Wilmington, the 7th Street peninsula, Southbridge and the Route 9 corridor.

Cummings and Guy did not respond to requests for comment about their opponent. 

Brown, the vice president of constituent services for Connections Community Support Programs, said his debt is akin to anyone else' financial struggles. 

"I believe that my constituency will understand that," he said. 

Cassandra Marshall, president of the Wilmington Democratic Party, said tax payments don't usually slip through the cracks when an individual works for a company. 

"If you're working for a real employer, why do you have that kind of tax issue?" she asked.

Brown can be cagey with the press, Marshall said, but not with voters.

"They would want to know why it is that somebody who is asking for their vote might not be living up their obligations in the same way they might be," said Marshall, whose party committee has not made any endorsements.  

"In terms of answering people's questions about whether you can be trusted to carry about the people's work, it's fair for him to answer that question to voters." 

It's not the first time Brown has failed to pay his taxes, according to court records. In May 2016, the state filed a lien against him for $4,788 for unpaid taxes from 2010 to 2013, court records state. At the time, he was in the midst of what would become an unsuccessful run to be Wilmington city treasurer. 

He satisfied that lien on April 11, 2018, according to court records. 

This story will be updated. 

Contact Christina Jedra at cjedra@delawareonline.com, (302) 324-2837 or on Twitter @ChristinaJedra.